Why do girlfriends/wives want you to get rid of your games?

[tiamaxwell]

As a woman who plays/collects games I haven't ran into this issue (my fiancé telling me to get rid of my games). The only thing I have issue with is when he is on the headset and he gets snippy when disturbed on them. I understand but its still a bother.

I have benefited from the "female made me get rid of my games" scenario. That's why I go to "baby sale" rummages because that's typically when they lose the battle. That's how I got my genesis. My fiancé plays games too so I have no problems. I almost find it funny when I see it.

not to derail but the issue I run into is that when I buy games people assume it's for my sons  . They look me like I have a second head when I say it's for myself. I find it aggravating that people insist I must have at least 2 babies by the age of 25 

*edit* had to fix my fiancé's edit to the post.

[TDIRunner]

My wife HATES video games......... except for her games of course.

[tiamaxwell]

My wife HATES video games......... except for her games of course.

bejeweled? Plants vs Zombies? farm ville?

or

pong,pac-man,frogger?

[romevi]

bejeweled? Plants vs Zombies? farm ville?

or

pong,pac-man,frogger?

Hey now, there's nothing wrong with Plants vs. Zombies!

That said, my own wife was really into Bejeweled and FarmVille at one point. That was many years ago.

[tiamaxwell]

bejeweled? Plants vs Zombies? farm ville?

or

pong,pac-man,frogger?

Hey now, there's nothing wrong with Plants vs. Zombies!

That said, my own wife was really into Bejeweled and FarmVille at one point. That was many years ago.

nuff' said.

[larryinc64]

It seems like a dying issue, about half my frends I normally hang out with are female, and most of them play games. They tend to like anime as well. It seems to be more universally liked by younger generations (I'm 19 just out of high school, many of my freinds are still there)

As been said, it comes down too why. If you are neglecting responsibilities, then it might be a good time to change your hobby.

I saw a car comercal where a wife came home to her husband is a vaguely messy room playing games, so she ran over the game system ( that was a original Xbox with a NGC controller) with her car.
Even my mom, who is not too happy with my collecting, thought that was dumb.

[Jeff]

I saw a car comercal where a wife came home to her husband is a vaguely messy room playing games, so she ran over the game system ( that was a original Xbox with a NGC controller) with her car.
Even my mom, who is not too happy with my collecting, thought that was dumb.

I hate videos like this, even though they're fake. It's destruction of property, it's not funny.

[TDIRunner]

My wife HATES video games......... except for her games of course.

bejeweled? Plants vs Zombies? farm ville?

or

pong,pac-man,frogger?

Anything that has the word "dance" or "sing" in it.

[the7k]

It all depends on the girl.

Maybe they want your undivided attention and believe that's the only way to get it. Maybe they are on a power trip and want to exercise power over you in any way they can. Maybe they want you to sell them so they can use the money for other purposes. If it any of those (other than the last one and it's a purpose you can agree on) then I suggest getting the hell out because its only going to get worse. I'm certainly not saying all women are like this, but I've seen at least half a dozen friends or friends of friends fall to psycho sirens like this. They get rid of everything and the relationship only gets worse.

I also am into arcade collecting and whatnot, and I know a lot of people in the scene who were forced to get rid of most if not all of their collection by their wives. It's almost ALWAYS a case of space. Most the times, they're perfectly fine with you having your own little hobby as long as it's taking up less than 10% of the space in the house. It's why I have almost all of my video games, arcade units, movies and other stuff in a storage unit. While our hobby is gaming, their hobby seems to be rearranging the entire house once every two weeks (again, my personal experience - your mileage may vary), and when our hobby takes up a significant amount of space then it is officially encroaching onto their hobby.

At the end of the day, though, collectors of any type are going to have this problem with significant others, as well as friends and family. The line separating a collector and a hoarder is very hard to see from the outside.

[monjici]

My girlfriend, and perhaps other people of my generation, have this firm idea that video games are for kids. I think it may have its root in the fact that the market for mature games mostly expanded once the Mario generation became adults. If you dropped gaming before that, it may not be a fact that will pop in your face. I try to convince her to see gaming as pure entertainment, on the same level as watching a movie.

The only real conflict we may have around gaming is of course the space physical game uses. Like what the7k mentioned, she want to clean and reorganized the house over and over again, but the gaming stuff is monolithic and gives her a bit of frustration Having a simplistic interior decoration is not easy with piles of games.

[wiggy]

I've never had a girlfriend in my life that wanted me to get rid of my games. However, if I did, I'd just get a new girlfriend.

Pretty much this.  I'm not going to ditch something which is a big part of my life because someone else doesn't like it. If they don't, then we never belonged together in the first place.

[shenske]

For me its one of those "You must like me for me and not for what you want me to be" things. My girlfriend is not a gamer but she is totally cool with my collection.

[mojoeskateco]

I'm lucky that my wife is supportive of my hobby and the only rule is that I have a fair budget that I stick to and that my collection is neat and organized.

Every Christmas and birthday I always get something gaming related from her.  She goes out of her way to find me some great items.

[Einhander]

Man. It seems like 75 percent are cool with it, but it's those other 25 percent that get weird about it. Obviously a lot of gamers are adults these days, but it's those 25 percent who are clueless and don't know what's going on.

Well I'm single now, but I will sure make sure that I never get married to someone who doesn't agree with my hobbies. When or if I get into a relationship with a girl, I'll make sure to tell her that collecting certain video games is a big passion of mine. If she is not okay with me keeping my stuff, then that will be the end of it.

I realized something. You're most likely a hoarder in one way or another. People hoard useless emails (never delete them), people hoard facebook friends. Why do so many people have 500 facebook friends if they're never going to see them? I can look at that as hoarding too. If you're not hoarding, you must have some kind of hobby. Maybe you love to drink and you spend money on alchohol or you love drugs, or you love to eat out. Doing all those things costs money, can cost as much as game collecting.

But the difference is that game collecting at least gives you something tangible, so you have something to show for it. When you go out and party or spend money on sporting events, you spent money on experiences but you probably don't have anything to show for it except for pictures. That's another thing, people hoard pictures on their phones. Tons of picture hoarders.

And at the end of the day, if you're not spending money on physical items or entertainment, and you have lots of money just sitting there, then you're still a hoarder. You're a hoarder of money. You have the money, but the money is only there in case of an emergency, and none of it can be used for enjoying your life.

So I guess I'm a small time hoarder. But ultimately I still try to buy only games that I really really want. Maybe 5-10 percent of the games I have are more of a nostalgic thing. But most of them are games I really want to play for a long time.

[sheep2001]

For anyone that has a significant other who doesn't get it, ask them why they need so many handbags, pairs of shoes, different cosmetics, etc.  not trying to stereotype, but most people have a more than adequate amount of something in their lives.  And whilst too many handbags may not be considered a hobby, i would imagine it gives the same pleasure having the collection, as it gives us for ours.